. >> i walked into the oval office, i had more than a trillion dollar deficit greeting me. and we know where it came from. >> reporter: the debate held at the university of denver was respectful and devoid of any major entertaining moments. it focused on dense domestic issues like taxes, social security and medicare and the role of the federal government. the president said romney's ideas are not specific enough. >> his running mate, congressn ryan, put forward a budget that reflects many of the principles that governor romney has talked about and it wasn't very detailed. this seems to be a trend. >> reporter: romney repeatedly accused the president of misrepresenting his position. >> i got five boys. i am used to people saying something that is not always true but just keep on repeating it and ultimately hoping i'll believe it. that is not the case. i will not reduce the taxes paid by high-income americans. >> this is the first of three presidential debates. they go at it again on october 16th. vice presidential candidates, however, debate a week from today. >> nicole, we